The present invention relates generally to computer and welding systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for managing welding procedures and welding resources.
Welding systems reside at the core of the modern industrial age. From massive automobile assembly operations to automated manufacturing environments, these systems facilitate joining in ever more complicated manufacturing operations. One such example of a welding system includes an electric arc welding system. This may involve movement of a consumable electrode, for example, toward a work piece while current is passed through the electrode and across an arc developed between the electrode and the work piece. The electrode may be a non-consumable or consumable type, wherein portions of the electrode may be melted and deposited on the work piece. Often, hundreds or perhaps thousands of welders are employed to drive multiple aspects of an assembly process, wherein sophisticated controllers enable individual welders to operate within relevant portions of the process. For example, some of these aspects relate to control of power and waveforms supplied to the electrode, movements or travel of a welding tip during welding, electrode travel to other welding points, gas control to protect a molten weld pool from oxidation at elevated temperatures and provide ionized plasma for an arc, and other aspects such as arc stability to control the quality of the weld. These systems are often deployed over great distances in larger manufacturing environments and many times are spread across multiple manufacturing centers. Given the nature and requirements of modern and more complex manufacturing operations however, welding systems designers, architects and suppliers face increasing challenges in regard to upgrading, maintaining, controlling, servicing and supplying various welding locations. Unfortunately, many conventional welding systems operate in individually controlled and somewhat isolated manufacturing locations in regard to the overall assembly process. Thus, controlling, maintaining, servicing and supplying multiple and isolated locations in large centers, and/or across the globe, has become more challenging, time consuming and expensive.
One such challenge relates to managing welding procedures and welding resources suitable for a particular welding need. In arc welding, an electric arc provided intense heat to melt metal. The electric arc is formed between piece(s) of metal(s) being welded and an electrode (e.g., stick or wire) that is manually or mechanically guided along the joint. In addition to metal type(s) and electrode type(s), a variety of other parameter(s) can be specified in a welding procedure. For example, a type of voltage source (e.g., alternating current or direct current), voltage, current, wire feed speed, travel speed, part angle, contact tip to work distance, joint angle, torch angle, part angle, welding joint details along with consumable diameter type/combination and/or gaseous shield can be included in a welding procedure. Selecting or developing a suitable welding procedure for a particular need can be a difficult, time intensive task for engineers. In selecting a suitable welding procedure, the engineer typically searches for previous welding procedures that are potentially suitable for the particular welding need. Further, in order to select a cost effective welding procedure, the engineer requires knowledge of the purchasing and inventory history. The engineer then calculates the relative weld costs for potentially suitable welding procedure(s) in order to determine the most cost effective one. This can be time-consuming and can lead to inconsistent or less than optimal results since conventionally physical documentation of welding procedures has typically been incomplete and inconsistent.
Another challenge relating to managing of welding procedures and welding resources relates to ordering and supplying perishable items for the welding systems. These items may include wire, gas, and other components associated with the welding process. Conventionally, these materials are often tracked and ordered by operators or supervisors responsible for the process. This generally involves manually inventorying and keeping track of projected production needs and then ordering supplies long enough in advance so that production may continue. As welding procedures are added, deleted or changed to accommodate particular welding needs, ordering and inventory systems should reflect the production needs associated with the added, deleted or changed welding procedures. Manual processes such as are involved with ordering and inventory activities are time consuming and often require duplication of efforts by multiple people and departments. When orders are finally placed, mistakes can occur as catalog and/or part numbers are given to suppliers. Additionally, suppliers and distributors often have trouble planning for expected demands, since knowledge of actual product usage may not be gained until the order is actually placed.
Due to the problems described above and other problems associated with conventional systems, there is an unsolved need for a system and method for managing welding procedures and welding resources.
The following presents a simplified summary of the invention in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not an extensive overview of the invention. It is not intended to identify key or critical elements of the invention or to delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.
As used in this application, xe2x80x9csystemxe2x80x9d is a structure comprising one or more components. A xe2x80x9ccomponentxe2x80x9d is a structure comprising computer hardware and/or software. For example, a component can be, but is not limited to, a computer readable memory encoded with software instructions or a computer configured to carry out specified tasks. By way of illustration, both an application program stored in computer readable memory and a server on which the application runs can be components. Due to the nature of components, multiple components can be intermingled and are often not separate from one another. Systems can likewise be intermingled and inseparable.
xe2x80x9cWelding procedurexe2x80x9d refers to a step or steps involved in a joining process and can include consumables to be used in the process along with settings for various aspects of a welding system before, during and/or after the joining process. For example, some of these aspects relate to control of power and waveforms supplied to an electrode, movements or travel of a welding tip during welding, electrode travel to other welding points, gas control to protect a molten weld pool from oxidation at elevated temperatures and provide ionized plasma for an arc, and other aspects such as arc stability to control quality of the weld. xe2x80x9cWelding systemxe2x80x9d refers to hardware and/or software components involved in the joining process and can include, but is not limited to, a power source, a gas controller, a wire feeder, a contact tip, a gas cone and contact tip conditioner (commonly referred to as a dresser), a gas mixer, a gas anti-spatter injection system (commonly referred to as a sneezer), a gas controller, a clamp actuator, a robot arm/beam/torch manipulator, a seam tracker, a wire drive and gun, a water cooler, a welder, a part handler, a torch travel and a user control.
The present invention relates to a system and method for managing welding procedures and welding resources in which a welding system is connected to a local server via a local network through a server and network interface. The welding system includes one or more welding procedures. Likewise, the local server has one or more local welding procedures. A user desiring to join pieces of metal submits weld parameter(s) to the welding system. In response to the user""s submission, the welding system is adapted to search its welding procedures and welding procedures on the local server for potentially suitable welding procedure(s). The welding system calculates weld costs for potentially suitable welding procedure(s) and presents information to the user. Optionally, the welding system can filter search results of potentially suitable welding procedure(s) based upon items (e.g., consumables) stocked.
Yet another aspect of the present invention provides for the welding system to be connected to a remote system having one or more remote welding procedures. In addition to searching the welding system and the local server, the welding system is adapted to search the remote system for potentially suitable welding procedure(s). Further, the present invention provides for the welding system, the local server and/or the remote system to dynamically create welding procedure(s) based, at least in part, upon weld parameter(s) and/or information stored in welding procedures, local welding procedures and/or remote welding procedures.
Another aspect of the present invention provides for the welding system to communicate information regarding a selected welding procedure to an inventory system and/or an ordering system to facilitate inventory management and ordering. The present invention further provides for automating qualification of welding procedures.
The present invention also provides methods for managing welding procedures and welding resources, searching for welding procedures, filtering potentially suitable welding procedure(s) based upon commonality of parts and automation of the welding procedures qualification and documentation process.